Stanford Briefings

Case Study: The Marc Center of Mesa

Mesa, Arizona

A Kantola customer since 2008

For over 55 years, the Marc Center of Mesa, Arizona, has been dedicated to enhancing the lives of people living with disabilities. Founded in 1957 by a group of nine families with children with special needs, the Marc Center now provides services to over 8,000 people of all ages with developmental and physical disabilities and behavioral health challenges. With an annual budget of $35 million, the Marc Center is able to provide a wide variety of services, including in-home care, assisted living facilities, transportation, education and job placement training, and more.

A lending library

Fran Foglesong, Assistant HR Director, has been with the Marc Center for 26 years, and is responsible for "a little bit of everything,” she laughs, "from workers’ compensation and unemployment to dealing with employee discipline, you name it.” She’s purchased a wide variety of Kantola programs over the years, serving the needs of new employees as well as veterans, at all levels of employment. “We employ people with disabilities, and whenever someone gets hurt, we make sure everyone on shift runs through the video on health and safety and back issues again. It’s excellent for them.” Most videos are kept in a central library and are lent out whenever they are needed.

Dealing with social media

Of course sometimes, she says, she ends up feeling a bit like Blockbuster. “The new harassment video about social media has been so popular that I had to order a third copy! It’s very conducive to the work environment now, as we were having issues with Facebook and all that kind of stuff. Now we use the video as part of the orientation class for new employees right off the bat.” As the Center continues to grow, Fran has an eye on the future. “Eventually we would like to go online,” says Fran, but that’s still a bit further down the road… maybe next year!”